The Authority Connecticut’s Source for Writing, Publishing & Marketing Information Connecticut Authors & Publishers Association—Since 1994 Volume 21 Issue 11 November, 2014 The Program at the November 15 CAPA Meeting is: CAPA Winter Pitch 2014 In the spirit of CAPA’s ongoing desire to aid its members in the pursuit of writing and publication, we present to you a useful tool. Write, Rehearse, and Feel free to entertain. Just remember that you only have one minute to do it in. One winner will be selected from a panel of three CAPA judges (Debbie Kilday, Jerry Labriola, and Melissa Flynn) . We will also have one surprise guest judge. Your list of things to do that morning include 1) show up at 10:30 am, 2) drop a buck in the jar (CAPA keeps all proceeds), 3) Sign up, 4) take a number, 5) wait to hear your number being called. When the time comes, we will begin calling out numbers. Once the program time comes to an end, we will stop calling numbers. Judges will deliberate for 5 minutes, and return with the results. Inside This Issue Cover Design Strategies p. 2 Media Tips p. 2 Waiting as a Discipline p. 3 Media Releases p. 4 ABCs of Editing p. 5 Celebrating Success p. 6 Targeting Fiction Readers p. 6 Upcoming Meetings p. 7 Ten Business Lessons p. 7 CAPA Webinars p. 8 Co-op Connection p. 8 Refreshments will be served. Meet A Member — Jason Alster By Jason Mark Alster, M.Sc An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility for what was created. Everyone Has A Story to Tell. It was the best of years and it was the best of years. Although I had already created research papers and a few educational books and movies, I did not think of myself as author until I had a story to tell – with purpose. Then it happened. A flash of lightening, a bulb went off. Sitting in a movie theatre and watching Under The Tuscan Sun – a story about an American author who moved to Italy and had many adventures acclimating to her new home- I thought I could write Under The Israel Sun, a story about an American who moved to another Mediterranean country: Israel. Only I named it Leaving Home, Continued on page 3 Contributors Eileen Albrizio Jason Mark Alster Judith Appelbaum Dan Blanchard Roberta Buland Fred Chesson Tanya Detrik David Garnes Brad Hurtado Florence Janovic Brian Jud Michael L Kilday Lori Dolney Levine Peri Poloni-Gabriel Tom Santos Dan Uitti page 2 The Authority Cover Design Strategies — Peri Poloni-Gabriel (Peri Poloni-Gabriel of Knockout Design has been in the business of designing books for over 15 years. She can be contacted at www.knockoutbooks.com) advertising fonts. The same look and font were used in the full color interior of the book. CAPA Board of Directors CAPA Officers’ & Board Members’ Contact Information Founder President Vice President Treasurer Secretary Historian Immediate Past President President Emeritus Brian Jud Deborah Kilday Steve Reilly Brian Jud Roberta J. Buland Jerry Labriola Richard Moriarty Beth Bruno [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Committee Chairs Newsletter SECAPA Chairman SWCAPA Chairman NECAPA Chairman Program CAPA University Membership Webmaster The Big E Bookstore Publicity Networking Meet-A-Member You've got to look at your book and say, "What's the most important thing I have to hit?" And you've got to say it in about two sentences. That's all the time you get. Lori Dolney Levine, Senior Talent Executive, Fox After Breakfast Inside the Lionel Trains Fun Factory This book is targeted at model train enthusiasts and collectors. Unlike many books in this genre which are about various collectables, this book goes into the history, advertising and lore of Lionel Trains. Historical images from Lionel advertising were used along with old parchment paper to denote the era visually. The center cartouche encapsulates the title which has been designed with turn of the century Media Tips Brian Jud Tom Santos Steve Reilly Melissa Flynn Melissa Flynn Peggy Gaffney Dick Benton Dan Uitti Deborah Kilday Dennis Schleicher Jason Alster Jason Alster [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Editor—Brian Jud, Meet-a-Member Column—Jason Alster Copy Editor—David Garnes, Staff Photographer—Deborah Kilday, If you are part of a panel discussion, you have three tools to use. Tool number one, jump into the conversation. Tool number two, always get back to the main point, your point, of the conversation. And tool number three is don’t lose any chances to add your wealth of knowledge. Brad Hurtado, former producer of Donahue, Maury Povich and The Charlie Rose Show Article Submission The Authority welcomes articles written by members. Here are our guidelines. Topics may cover any aspect of writing, publishing and marketing. Your personal slant on this is of interest to all of us and welcome. Articles should be no longer than 400 words. If the article is longer, the editors reserve the right to reduce the size or divide it into sections that would be run in successive issues. All articles will be edited. Submit single spaced with no built-in formatting. Submit all articles to Brian Jud at [email protected]. Send submissions for the MeetA-Member column to Jason Alster at [email protected] ARTICLES DUE BY THE 28TH OF THE MONTH The Authority Jason Alster — Continued from Page 1 Going Home, Returning Home: A Hebrew American’s Sojourn in the Land of Israel. You see, until then no one had written a story about Israel from an American’s perspective. Being a behavioral scientist and an adventure seeker, I wanted to show what Israel was really about in a non-political but cultural chronicle that would entertain, educate, and excite. And as the title states, I wanted to talk about the concept of home, as Jewish people throughout history have more than one home: that is, the place where they are born and their ancestral homeland, the land of the Bible. A thought came to my mind. What if I would compare Israel as a democracy to the USA as a democracy? What can we learn from it? Then the reviews came in, and people even liked the book. So now it was official – I am an author and started to do “author things,” like author book signings, articles in the newspapers, radio interviews, the Big E, library lectures, and more. An interesting excerpt from a reviewer: I found myself settling back in my easy chair starting the first chapter. By the time I had read a few chapters, I felt the book warranted my full attention. Alster taught me more about Israel, its people, culture, and history than I had ever been page 3 aware of before. I was able to view it through the eyes of someone who was willing to give a non-judgmental, panoramic view of a culture that I previously only knew superficially.” Since my “author” debut, I acquired an interest in the journey of other authors and so began a service of offering branding and marketing tools such as Book Video Trailers, as well as hosting “Meet The Author WCTV14,” where many top Connecticut authors have been guests. [email protected] Waiting as a Discipline By Maria G. O'Donnell The saying goes, “Writing is a discipline.” It takes practice. I believe that could also be said about waiting. I am a waiter – not the food server kind – but literally, a waiter. I have been all my life and have grown increasingly used to it and, therefore, increasingly more patient. I believe I’m a dying breed. With everything “instant this, instant that,” I’ve discovered that’s rarely possible, so I’ve learned delayed gratification with most things in life. There’s been “difficult wait- ing,” such as waiting for a college acceptance or those last few weeks before the baby’s birth. Then there’s “fun waiting,” like anticipating a concert or vacation. But since I earlier mentioned writing, in this discipline, “instant” is so often not an option. Waiting wins out: waiting for replies from agents or editors on book proposals and queries, or short stories and news articles. Many contacts take months for a reply; others never come. And so I wait. Patiently, even. Patient waiting took time and, like any other discipline, including writing, it took practice. I’m not immune to the disappointment of waiting for months only to be rejected, but continually submitting or actually contacting local publications for assignments meet with eventual success. Although primarily a freelance newspaper writer, I’ve written a young adult novel series and have waited to hear from a few agents about it, but never did. Some years ago, my cousin and I discussed my getting this series published at a time when my kids still needed lots of attention. We decided my fiftieth birthday would be a good time to go for it, full throttle. Already, that’s only a couple of years from now. And what if I don’t happen to publish anything at that exact time? No worries. I can wait. Contact Maria O'Donnell at [email protected] page 4 Media Releases: When, Why and How to Send Them by Lisa Saunders Ever present a talk at a library and no one showed up? Or publish a book and don’t know how to get media attention? One of the best ways to broadcast your news is to send the media a press release, otherwise known as a media or news release. Many authors assume their publishers will send out press releases and that when they give a talk, the hosting organization will send one out. They may, but usually it’s up to you to make sure the word gets out. So start gathering media contacts now! After you’ve sent a press release to the media, then post it to your blog from where you can easily repost to your LinkedIn, Facebook, Google +, and other online media accounts (ask your friends to do the same). There are even press release sites that let you post your release there for free. The first step is to learn how to properly format a release that will interest a reporter (who wants to quickly know, “How will this benefit my readers?”) and to minimize the reporter’s rewriting work (they need it written in Associated Press style; for example, write “a.m.,” not “AM” or “A.M.”). If possible, you will want to attach a high resolution photograph to which you own the copyright-- publications loves images they don’t have to search or pay for. The Authority The most important and “why should my readers care” information needs to be on top of your release. Don’t make the reporter search for the date and time of an event. Make it easy on them and make it short! They don’t like to open attachments, so put your information within the body of the email. There are many reasons to send out a press release: · Your topic is closely associated with an awareness month. · You are giving a lecture. · You won an award (I got a lot of news coverage when I sent a release about my winning a beer stein hoisting contest—I used that news to promote my book about my ancestor’s hanging, which was urged on by Samuel Adams, also the name of the brewing company hosting the contest). Here is one of my personal press releases that gained a lot of media coverage: Mom Asks CT to Become 2nd State in Nation to Stop #1 Birth Defects Virus House Bill 5147 includes Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Public Education Program Mystic, Conn.— Lisa Saunders of Mystic didn’t know how to prevent contracting CMV (cytomegalovirus), which causes more disabilities than Down syndrome, until it was too late for her daughter Elizabeth, born with a severely damaged brain. On March 25, Connecticut’s Public Health Committee voted in favor of House Bill 5147, which includes a cytomegalovirus (CMV) public education program. At present, Utah is the only state that requires their Public Health Department to provide CMV education. Saunders, the parent representative of the Congenital CMV Foundation, is now asking legislators to make Connecticut the second state in the Union to prevent the leading viral cause of birth defects by passing HB 5147. Congenital CMV can be prevented if women of childbearing age learn the precautions to take, which includes refraining from kissing their toddlers around the mouth. According to a study posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, “fewer than half (44%) of OB/GYNs surveyed reported counseling their patients about preventing CMV infection” despite the following statistics from the CDC: · About 1 in 150 children is born with congenital CMV infection (approximately 30,000 in the U.S. each year). · Congenital CMV causes one child to become disabled every hour. Saunders has been trying to raise CMV awareness for years through her speaking engagements and books, including Anything But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with congenital CMV (cytomegalovirus) and, most recently, her travel memoir, Mystic Seafarer’s Trail, where she jokes she's trying to get thin and famous like Amelia Earhart (secretly married in Noank), so people will listen to her CMV prevention message. For more information, visit Saunders at: www.authorlisasaunders.com. ### The Authority page 5 The ABCs of the Editing Process: How to Improve Your Book Talks and Signings By Roberta Buland By attending book talks/signings you can learn how to improve your own! Look for those with different approaches to staging one. Even if you don’t yet have your book prepared to publish, you will one day. Headings highlight the diversity of subjects of recent took talks/ signings I have attended. Abortion A book talk/signing at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Hartford, featured Abortion in the American Imagination, by Karen Weingarten. She discussed her book by answering questions from Barbara Sicherman of Trinity College, an expert on abortion issues. The questions provoked an intelligent discussion about them in the United States from 1880-1940. With two people discussing your book, you and an expert in the field of your subject matter, it can be a lively discussion with strong audience participation. The author wrote about a topic that has been timely for the last several decades, especially since Roe v. Wade, and even long before. Fiction: A Seventh Novel At the Mark Twain House, Hartford, the BOOK/MARK series featured “A Conversation” with Colm Toibin about his book, Nora Webster, his seventh novel! One of the points discussed was how he explained Irish/British idioms to American readers. A literature professor, he has enthralled students everywhere. He began the program by reading a few pages of his book. Then a director of the Twain house alluded to themes in the book, which Toibin magnified. Nora Webster, the main character came alive! The advantage to this method was the featured Now I See You: A Memoir, by Nicole C. Kear. She had traveled from New York City with her family to talk about and sign her book. Even her children participated. The book is an uplifting story about refusing Director kept the author focused. Audience participation was exciting. Approaching Blindness West Hartford Public Library featured Now I See You: A Memoir, by Nicole C. Kear. She had traveled from New York City with her family, who also participated in her talk, to present and sign her book. It’s an uplifting story about refusing to cower at life’s curveballs and the power of love to triumph over fear. But, at its core is a story about acceptance: facing truths that just won't go away and her broken life of her slowly becoming blind with no available cure. It is a perfect example of how to write a memoir. I was particularly taken with her body language—her smiles, her connection with the audience, and her serious moments. She had drawn on her education as a theater major to enhance her presentation. Civil Rights One of the most impressive book talks I attended was at the Stowe House about Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black, by Congressman James E. Clyburn. It is a memoir of a civil rights leader's journey from the Jim Crowera South to the Washington beltway. Accompanying him was Connecticut Congressman John B. Larson, who introduced him. Whereas, Kear’s book focuses on a single subject, Clyburn’s book takes a broader approach, from his humble beginnings in Sumter, South Carolina, through to his prominence on the Washington, D.C., political scene as the third highest-ranking Democrat in Congress. The Holocaust Laurel Leff, a journalism professor at Northeastern University, my alma mater, presented her book at the University of Hartford’s Greenberg Center. Buried by The Times: The Holocaust and America’s most Important Newspaper takes a different critical approach than other books had. The timely book marks the 70th anniversary of liberation. Her exhaustive research demonstrates a remarkable ability to tell a story in easily understood language. Comments? Write to [email protected] Roberta J. Buland is the owner-editor of RIGHT WORDS UNLIMITED, a full service editorial and publishing services firm in West Hartford. She is a past president of CAPA and may also be reached at 860-308-2550. page 6 CAPA Members Celebrating Success Per Michael L Kilday: In 2013, my book, A Yippie’s Lament was evaluated as part of Writers Digest’s 21st annual competition for self-published books. I received a 4 for Organization and Structure, a 5 for Grammar, and a 4 for Production and Cover Design. The reviewer said “The packaging is polished and professional…. You’ve assembled a very informative tome here. You cover a variety of topics in an interesting and engaging fashion. I appreciated the bibliography and end notes you provided…. The formatting of the interior of the book is good, although you might be able to save on paper and printing costs by reducing the font size somewhat. … The back cover copy is good… I like the back cover image, but I wish it were more clearly reproduced.” It’s worthy of note the �faults’ the reviewer noted in cover design and formatting were done on purpose for effect. Receiving these accolades from a professional reviewer clearly shows that a self-published book can be done professionally if you have the right people do it. I want to commend Debbie T. Kilday for doing the cover designs, and Dan Uitti for doing the book formatting. Per Fred Chesson: I hope to be at the November Meeting to announce Amazon's publication of my second short story collection, Twilight Tales, in print and ebook versions. The title recalls Rod Serling's iconic Twilight Tales TV program. Cover images and a story outline are attached. Enjoy! Per Tanya Detrik: I published my memoir, “Waking Up With Nora” on CreateSpace in October. Dan Uitti was instrumental in getting it produced. We skipped the hardcopy proof and ordered a shipment of 100 copies to have them just in time for a fundraiser for my granddaughter, Nora, whose journey through infantile epilepsy and brain surgery is the central subject of the story. Proceeds from the book go to helping Nora get therapies and equipment not covered by insurance. And, when I speak at other organizations, I will donate a portion of the proceeds to their choice of non-profits who help children. The Authority The Box Under the Bed, haunting tales and tidbits pulled from under the bed that are sure to steal your breath and chill your blood right before you sleep. These compelling little stories and poems explore the dark side of the human psyche and the ghostly side of death. Eileen Albrizio’s collection of short horror stories and dark poetry is now available at the Amazon. com Kindle Store. Visit her book page at www.Facebook. com/spooksandghosts and be sure to “like” it! Here’s an excerpt from The Box Under the Bed in the section called Twelve Frightening Two-Sentence Stories: “I woke up this morning to the scratchy tongue of the cat licking my nose. Right before I opened my eyes, I remembered I didn’t have a cat. You crawled into bed and wrapped your body around me. At the same time, I heard you call out my name from downstairs. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my toddler standing behind me waving goodbye. I was holding him in my arms at the time.” 10 Leading Questions For Targeting Fiction Readers By Judith Appelbaum and Florence Janovic Question #1: What subjects are important in the book? Does the story feature families, addiction, angels, terrorism, or tourism? By searching in an encyclopedia of associations, in Gale's and Bacon's directories of periodicals, and on the Web, you'll find groups of people already interested in whatever your book is about. Dale Smith's new novel for young readers -- What the Parrot Told Alice -- teaches kids about wildlife conservation, so it's a natural for bird enthusiasts and environmental activists. With Deer Creek Publishing's marketing campaign still in its early stages, results so far include a laudatory twopage review in Bird Talk that generated orders for 80 books almost immediately; sales of 200 copies at an American Federation of Aviculture Convention, where pet shop owners who figure to become steady customers were among the buyers; a premium deal with the World Parrot Trust; and good leads for premium sales to two major conservation groups. The Authority Ten Business Lessons from the Chilean Mine Disaster as they could apply to book publishing. In 2010, 33 Chilean miners were trapped almost one-half mile below the surface. They had limited food and water, so time was a critical issue. They were all saved, and the lessons learned can help book publishers perform better in time-pressured, risky situations -- such as negotiating under competitive circumstances for an order of 300,000 books. 1. Encourage creativity, new idea, dissent and experimentation. page 7 2. Tolerance for imperfect solutions is essential in dynamic situations. Fail quickly, and rapidly apply the lessons learned. 3. Have one person in charge. That person should alternate between directing action and enabling innovation, while constantly inspiring hope. Expertise without leadership is futile. 4. Have a specific goal with a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead, as well as the consequences of failure. 5. Have an absolute commitment to the achievement of your goal. 6. Assemble a team with diverse backgrounds, but ask them to re- ject preconceived notions and prepackaged solutions. Apply boundaries to focus their attention, and quickly remove uncooperative people. 7. Assume little and question everything. Use constant brainstorming to uncover alternate solutions. 8. Apply parallel processing as you attempt multiple solutions simultaneously. 9. Have situational awareness, reading and responding to regular changes in circumstances. 10. Balance an assessment of the big picture with an awareness of details in a complex and fastchanging context. Schedule of Upcoming Meetings CAPA CENTRAL Sycamore Hills Park Community Center Avon, CT 10:30 am (http://www.aboutcapa.com/avon.htm) November 15: CAPA Winter Pitch 2014 December 17: Annual Holiday Party January 17: Meeting will be held at the Avon Public Library CAPA SOUTHEAST Location: Groton Inn & Suites 6:30 pm (Tom Santos, [email protected]; find current meeting information at http://www.aboutcapa.com/capase.htm) November 17: Lisa Saunders - Groton Inn & Suites Dec. 15, Holiday Party, Time and place to be announced CAPA SOUTHWEST Location: Plumb Memorial Library, Shelton. 6:30 pm (Steve Reilly, [email protected]; find current meeting information at http://www.aboutcapa.com/capasw.htm) November 10: Topic TBA December 8: Topic TBA CAPA BOOK-NETWORKING MEETINGS Location: Wethersfield Public Library, (Jason Alster, [email protected]) November: Topic TBA December: Topic TBA CAPA NORTHEAST Location: Mansfield Public Library, 54 Warrenville Rd. (Rte. 89) Mansfield Center 6:30 pm (Daniel Blanchard, [email protected]; http://www.aboutcapa.com/capane.htm) November 19: Jim Ryan December 17: Chris Knopf page 8 CAPA’s Co-op Connection Save money as you market your books by sharing the cost of events with other CAPA members. Want to participate in one of these sales opportunities with other CAPA members? Log on to the CAPA social network (http:// authorsandpublishersct.ning.com/). December 4 5-6 6 6 6 6 6 6 13 13 14 January 1-5 10 23 24 24 31 Meriden Bethlehem Bolton Cheshire Colchester Coventry Manchester Unionville New Britain Shelton Trumbull Hartford Bristol Hartford Wallingford Glastonbury Hartford Meriden Mall Holiday Art & Craft Show Christmas Town Festival 34th Winter Faire Cheshire Strawberry Festival 77th Sleigh Bells Arts and Crafts Fair 3rd Craft Show 38th Holiday Craft Fair 22nd Annual Annual Holiday Craft Fair 36th The Krazy Holiday Cookie War Shelton Holiday Craft Festival Holiday Carousel of Crafts Showcase 30th Annual Connecticut Bridal Expo Brass Ring Academy and Cabaret Hartford Home Show 1st Annual KC 101 Bridal Show Winter Snowball Express 11th Annual Big Y Kids Fair CAPA P. O. Box 715 Avon, CT 06001-0715 The Authority Free Book Marketing Webinars Brian Jud will host webinars that can help you sell more books, more profitably. These webinars are free to CAPA members and are sponsored by CAPA and APSS. Each starts at 6 p. m. Eastern Time. If you cannot attend, a link to the recording will be posted at www. aboutcapa.com. You may also find details about future webinars there. The November free webinars sponsored by CAPA are: Nov 6: "What’s the Big Idea? How to stand out in this crowd of over 300,000 new titles that were published last year." By Brian Jud, 6:00 pm ET, http://tinyurl.com/kv7vqta Nov 13: “Business Tips for Writers and Publishers,” By Carol Topp 6:00 pm ET http://tinyurl.com/n2qxv53
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